Loved both on and off stage by audiences and critics everywhere for his "commanding technique," (London Times) and "power and bravura" (Berlin Die Welt), Brazilian pianist Caio Pagano is in great demand in major musical and cultural centers around the world. The New York Times called his Beethoven "superb, absolutely first-class." Pagano frequently performs with leading orchestras throughout Central and South America, the United States and Europe. He has been presented in more than 500 performances as recital soloist, chamber musician and orchestra soloist in such diverse places as Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, the United States, Canada, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, England, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, China and Czech Republic. Drawing from the traditional classical repertoire to twentieth-century music gems and world premieres of noted contemporary Brazilian composers, his programs consistently receive rave reviews from music critics wherever he performs.

Mr. Pagano has performed with many leading conductors, including Ernest Bour, Szymon Goldberg, Sergiu Comissiona, Morton Gould, Eleazar de Carvalho, Jose Serebrier, Paul Freeman and James Sedares.

Pagano's artistic talent was recognized at the young age of four, when he began his piano studies in Brazil at Magda Tagliaferro's school. He continued with this illustrious pianist in Paris and followed with Helena Costa in Portugal. He completed his training with Karl Engel in Hanover, and Conrad Hansen at the Hamburg Hochschule in Germany.

Among Caio Pagano's many awards are the International Beethoven Award, Portugal; the International Award in Barcelona; and the Grand Prix of the National Piano Competition in Brazil. Other academic credits of the artist include a law degree from the University of SãoPaulo and a Doctorate in Music from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is very much in demand to adjudicate international competitions in Europe, the United States, and South America.

As Professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, Caio created the International Biennial of Music, which attracted many internationally acclaimed artists who collaborated with him (including Saschko Gawriloff, Cristof Caskel, Raphael Hillyer, Werner Taube, Henry Schuman). He also toured with Pierre Fournier, Janos Starker, Thomas Friedli, Szymon Goldberg, Albor Rosenfeld and the Jacques Thibaud Trio. Caio has been a featured artist at the Miami New World Festival, the Washington Interamerican Fest, the Grenoble Festival, the Megève Festival and many others.

Mr. Pagano has performed with many leading conductors, among them Ernest Bour, Szimon Goldberg, Sergiu Comissiona, Morton Gould, Eleazar de Carvalho, Jose Serebrier, Paul Freeman, and James Sedares.

Presently as a Regents' Professor of Music at Arizona State University, Pagano attracts some of the brightest students on the horizon today. He is also a noted scholar, published in the United States, Europe and Brazil, delineating his vast knowledge of twentieth-century music and the works of composers from Haydn to Schoenberg.

In 2000, Maria João Pires and Caio Pagano co-developed the Belgais, Centre for the Study of the Arts in Portugal. The center hosts an ambitiously innovative series of courses for international students and is ideally located in Ms. Pires' medieval country home in Portugal.

Caio Pagano is a Steinway Artist who is regularly featured on radio, including recent highlights on National Public Radio, and on television. He has appeared regularly on BBC in London, Norddeutsche Rundfunk in Hamburg, Voice of America in Washington D.C., Dutch Radio in Hilversum, Radio de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, and National Broadcasting in Portugal, to name just a few. With more than a dozen recordings heralding his mastery, Pagano has two CDs produced by Summit Records. His most recent CD with this label features Guarnieri's "Chôro" and "Concertino" with the Czech National Symphony, released simultaneously with the 500th anniversary of Brazil's discovery. Mr. Pagano also has a CD with Soundset Recordings featuring Franck's "Variations Symphoniques" (SR 1017) with the Bratislava Radio Symphony, and a new CD with Glissando featuring works of Villa-Lobos, released worldwide in May 2000.

One of the finest pianists Brazil has produced, his transcendental technique is accompanied by exuberant lyricism, intellect and a polished sense of style. Caio Pagano combines a profound knowledge of the arts, literature and music which characterizes his interpretations as authoritative and unique.

"Pagano is such a fine performer that any opportunity to hear him should be seized."
- Joseph McLellan, Washington Post

Caio Pagano is an internationally renowned concert pianist, teacher, and scholar. He has been a distinguished professor of piano at Arizona State University since 1986, having earned the honor of Regents' Professor of Piano at this institution. He has premiered 36 works in concert halls worldwide, of which 25 were written and dedicated to him by the composers, including concertos for piano and orchestra. He has recorded several of these works. Pagano was also the first pianist to perform the complete works of Schoenberg in various capitals of the world.

Among the remarkable premieres was his performance of Pousseur's Apostrophe, along with Beethoven's Diabelli Variations in Washington D.C. and New York City, which received the following reviews: "The Pousseur was transcendent, and Beethoven was absolutely first-class, simultaneously idiomatic and original." (New York Times) "I started jotting comments after each variation, but I abandoned that as I realized I was being presented with a conception that was an incandescent entity." (Washington Post) He has performed with orchestras throughout the world with noted conductors such as Sergiu Comissiona, Camargo Guarnieri, Szimon Goldberg, Howard Griffits, John Neschling, Eleazar de Carvalho, Silva Pereira, Ernest Bour, Morton Gould, Roberto Minczuk, and Roberto Tibiriçá. As a chamber musician, he has toured with Sachko Gavriloff, Raphael Hillyer, Werner Taube, Henry Schuman, Pierre Fournier, Janos Starker, Thomas Friedli, Szymon Goldberg and the Dutch Chamber Orchestra, Albor Rosenfeld, the St. Petersburg Quartet, Maria João Pires, Gerard Caussé, and the Jacques Thibaud Trio. Furthermore, he has been a featured artist at the Miami New World Festival, the Washington Interamerican Fest, the Grenoble Festival, the Megève Festival, the Mérida Festival, the Montpellier Festival, and many others.

Born into a family of musicians, Emmanuele Baldini is one of the most important Italian violinists of his generation. He has played solo, and violin and piano recitals throughout Italy and in major European concert halls, in the USA, Australia, Japan, and South America. He has interpreted the main concertos of the violin repertoire with orchestras such as Wiener Kammerorchester, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester (Berlin), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, S. Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Flanders Youth
Philharmonic Orchestra, "G. Verdi" Orchestra (Trieste), Chamber Orchestra of Mantua, and Interpreti Veneziani. His recordings have received international acclaim in important music magazines.

Mr. Baldini has been concertmaster of the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro "G. Verdi" di Trieste, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, and has collaborated with the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano. Since 2005 he has been the concertmaster of the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de São Paulo (Brazil). He is the founder and the first violinist of the Quarteto Osesp.